LOOK BACK AT A MAGICAL SEASON

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

WORKING MAGIC AGAIN AT SAM HOUSTON STATE
By W.H. Stickney, Jr.

This feature was originally printed in the Houston Chronicle


Quiet and understated, Bob Marlin is synonymous with success. Whether coaching basketball at Pensacola Junior College, assisting at Houston Baptist and Alabama, or pacing the sidelines at Sam Houston State, he is accustomed to winning.

In 1993, Marlin became the first Florida junior college coach to be named National Junior College Athletic Association Coach of the Year, having led Pensacola to a national title.

In his first season (1984) as an assistant at HBU, Marlin helped Gene Iba lead the Huskies to their first and only NCAA Tournament berth. His touch has now fallen upon Sam Houston State.

A native of Tupelo, Miss., Marlin twice has been chosen Coach of the Year in the Southland Conference. Since he took over seven years ago, the Bearkats have produced more non-conference victories than any other Southland team. Among the most impressive was a 69-65 conquest of Texas Tech in Lubbock, Bob Knight's first loss as coach of the Red Raiders.

On Nov. 23, 1998, Marlin directed a 67-63 victory over the University of Houston, defeating Clyde Drexler's Cougars at Hofheinz Pavilion. Marlin also has took the Bearkats to the 2003 NCAA Tournament.

And this year Marlin led the Kats into the National Invitation Tournament and upset Missouri of the Big 12 in the first round.

At 5-1, the Kats boast the best record in the SLC. They face a couple of Conference USA teams this week.

SHSU hosts Southern Mississippi on Thursday night, then comes back to Hofheinz Pavilion on Saturday to try to upset Tom Penders' Houston Cougars.

The status of Bearkats standout senior Chris Jordan is questionable. Jordan, a senior from Hitchcock, suffered a strained knee a week ago and has been idle since.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ANATOMY OF AN UPSET
By David Brandt

This feature was originally printed in the Jackson Sun


The anatomy of an upset is a hard thing to figure, but as the Tennessee Martin Skyhawks venture to No. 7-ranked Louisville today, it's certain they can use all the help they can get.

Maybe the boys at Sam Houston State can offer a few pointers.

It was an early season shocker in the Preseason NIT this week, when the little-known Bearkats blindsided Missouri, 80-77, on the Tigers' home court.

That kind of success isn't new to coach Bob Marlin and his motley crew. In recent years, they've knocked off Big 12 foes Texas Tech, Baylor and Nebraska - all on their opponents' floor.

"There's a few things to keep in mind when you're a mid-major and playing a big game like this," Marlin says at the beginning of the conversation.

And if Marlin's giving a crash course in College Upsets 101, UTM should be willing to listen.

So here it is from someone who knows - here's three tips on how to stun a powerhouse.

1. You must stun your opponent early with aggressive play and take the early lead.

Sounds easy enough, but Marlin says this requires an extraordinary amount of effort and doesn't afford a team the opportunity to be nervous at the beginning of the game.

Can't have a case of the yips under the bright lights, or you might as well not bother showing up.

"It's easy for the other team to take a game like this lightly," Marlin said. "Not on purpose, but subconsciously. When that happens you must jump on them early, take the lead and hope they can't recover."

At the Division I level, Marlin reasons that the talent is so close, even great teams can't always flip the switch on and off. Once the momentum is in favor of the underdog, it's sometimes hard for even Goliath to recover.

Against Missouri, the Bearkats had a six-point lead by midway through the first half and never trailed by more than two points the rest of the game.

Sam Houston St. outrebounded Missouri, 39-34, and had seven blocked shots as opposed to just one for the Tigers.

2. Looking at game film, dissect the other team and find ways to beat them - just like any other team you'd face.

This sounds like a no-brainer, but it's sometimes hard to realize that even a Louisville, Texas Tech or Missouri has weaknesses. Find strengths your team has and exploit areas that you feel are weak with your opponent - no matter who it is.

"When we faced Missouri, we studied a ton of tape and found a few matchups where we felt we could be successful," Marlin said. "You must go into a game like this with a plan and work with it. Even the big-name teams have places you can attack."

3. Maybe most important - DO NOT overstep your bounds when scheduling an opponent.

Uh, that might have been nice to know earlier.

This one's the toughie, as UTM might have already bit off a little more than it can chew.

While beating Mizzou was certainly a feather in the cap for Sam Houston State, the Tigers were not nationally ranked and certainly not the caliber of a loaded Louisville squad.

Several months ago, the Bearkats were actually invited to open the season with No. 1 Duke this season at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Marlin wisely declined the invitation.

"My 13-year-old son was disappointed because he's a huge J.J. Redick (a Duke guard) fan," Marlin said. "He told me 'That would be awesome to go to Duke!'

"I told him that would be awesome for about 30 seconds until (Duke) started pounding us."

So there you have it. Three easy steps to getting a full minute on ESPN in all the glory of a stunning college basketball upset.

Nothing to it, right?

"Well, it helps to have a good night, too," Marlin said. "You've got to just keep it close until the end of the game - then anything can happen."

Anything can happen. Words to live by if you're UTM. Think an upset is impossible today at Freedom Hall?

Nothing's impossible in Martin after Thursday - after all, the Skyhawks just managed to have a winning football season.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A DIFFERENT PATH
By Angela Lento

This feature was originally printed in the January 2003 issue of Basketball Times

In just his third season as a head coach he won a national championship. He left having recorded the best season in school history. At his second stop, he once again notched the best single season in the program's history and continues to re-write the record books.

Carrying around such accolades would have to make this coach a well-known commodity, right?

The truth of the matter is that Sam Houston State head coach Bob Marlin is highly respected by his piers, but is a great unknown to most others.

Last season Marlin's accomplishments gained national attention, when he guided Sam Houston State to its' first-ever NCAA tournament appearance. But in March, those that win become media darlings and the losers simply go home.

But losing is not a word not often associated with the coach who never played college basketball.

"I wasn't a very good player," laughs Marlin. "After a 2-for-7 night in high school my coach told me I was a good ball handler so he wanted me to bring up the ball, get it to the shooters and play defense. His message was pretty clear."

That's when Marlin began to recognize the intricacies of coaching and he credits his high school mentor for lighting the spark.

"The fact that I wasn't a good shooter wasn't the only thing that I learned from Byron Lehman," says Marlin. "We had a good team, but we faced a great team that was 30-1. Humphries County had won its' previous game by sixty points, but we slowed the tempo, took them out of their game and held them to nearly fifty points below their average. We won that game and advanced to the state tournament."

For Marlin it was a learning experience and one that would put him on a path to coaching. It was a path that not only lacked collegiate experience, but also absent was any basketball background whatsoever.

"My dad was not a coach and I never played in college," says Marlin. "But coaching was something that I wanted to do so I knew I would just have to work harder than everyone else."

And that is exactly what Marlin has done, since graduating from Mississippi State in 1981. And at every stop along the way, Marlin has impressed.

But what is most impressive about Marlin is down-to-earth approach. He neither seeks nor exactly welcomes fan fair. You won't find him working the lobby at the Final Four, but you will find him off in the corner talking basketball with one of his piers. And if you do spot him, he would probably being sitting with his 10-year old son Matt, watching their beloved St. Louis Cardinals.

Marlin is passionate about his trade, but he is also passionate about the important things and there in lies the reason for his success.

"You cannot control how much or how little people talk about what you have or haven't done," says Marlin. "All that you can control is what do on the court. A good friend of mine likes to say, 'if you work hard everything else takes care of itself.' That is so true."

That simplistic approach took Marlin on a path to Pensacola junior college in 1994. It had taken eight years as an assistant coach -- at Marshall, Houston Baptist, and Louisiana-Monroe -- to gain his first opportunity as a head coach, but it took far less time for him to deliver.

In five seasons at Pensacola, Marlin would rack up 120 wins, a national title and a national junior college coach of the year award. But ask Marlin about his stint at Pensacola and he will point out the fact that current Central Florida coach Kirk Speraw and current Mercer coach Mark Slonaker also had great runs with the JUCO program.

He is as proud of the fact that they have gone onto to have success at the division I level as he is about stay in the sunshine state.

"Kirk [Speraw] did a great job before I got there and Mark [Slonaker] had a lot of success after I left," says Marlin. "It has been great to see that all of us have done well since moving on. I was fortunate to inherit a pretty good situation at Pensacola."

But the only thing Marlin inherited in his next head coaching job was a slightly better salary.

After a great five-year run at Pensacola and a three-year stint as an assistant at Alabama, Marlin accepted the head coaching position at Sam Houston State. The SHSU program was in total disarray.

In the eleven previous seasons, the Bearkats were a less than impressive 93-202 and the school had never had a winning season at the division I level.

Five years later, nobody has won more games in the Southland Conference than Sam Houston State.

"I am fortunate to have an athletic director that really understood what it would take to have success here," says Marlin. "Bobby Williams has been so supportive and so instrumental in our success. I am proud of what we have been able to accomplish so far and he has been a major part of it."

Marlin is so right in that support throughout the athletic department is vital to the ultimate success of a program, but -- with all due respect -- Mr. Williams hasn't called a single timeout or recruited a single player.

Since taking over, Marlin has guided SHSU to a pair of pair of Southland Conference regular season titles, the top winning percentage in SLC games and the best non-league mark.

Not bad for a guy that was told by his high school coach that he can't shoot.

Maybe he can't shoot, but he can certainly coach.